Toomey Hopes Cooler Heads Will Prevail On Government Shutdown.

Now Optimist ...
... and U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey are not ordinarily words that we'd think
would naturally occur in the same sentence.

But "Practical"? Definitely. "Sober?" Absolutely. We're even willing to throw in a "level-headed" just for good measure. In fact, we'd even leave Baby Capitol Ideas with Toomey because we know she'd get a healthy snack and be put to bed on time after being read a few chapters of "The Wealth of Nations."

But chatting with reporters after an appearance before Harrisburg-area business leaders this morning, Pennsylvania's junior United States senator said he's still holding out hope that Congressional leaders and the White House will get their act together and avoid a federal government shutdown next week.

"I hope it doesn't happen. It would be very disruptive," the Zionsville Republican said after an appearance at the Harrisburg Regional Chamber. "And I hope we can reach an agreement."

Toomey said it's likely that Congressional leaders and the White House will agree to a short-term extension of the so-called "continuing resolution" that's kept the government running while Washington bigwigs try to agree on how to fund the final seven months of the fiscal year. They have until March 4 to get a deal and most everyone in Washington is bracing for a shutdown.

"Hopefully, that will buy us time for an agreement for the rest of the year," he said.

Next week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring a short-term spending bill to the floor for a vote that would keep the government running at its current levels for one month to buy time to debate and negotiate with House Republicans about cuts for the rest of the year.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has rejected the idea, and says he won't support current spending levels even for another month. Last week, the House passed a bill that cuts federal funding by $60 billion for the rest of the fiscal 2011 year.

In Harrisburg this morning, Toomey said any conversation about government funding has to include serious conversations about spending cuts, including such sacred cows as the Pentagon.

"We're spending billions of dollars on hardware the military doesn't want," he said. "It's important that we go after that as well."

Toomey talked about some other stuff during his appearance, including the transfer of power in Egypt and the increasingly dangerous situation in Libya.

Toomey told reporters this morning that he's been watching affairs in the Middle East with some degree of "ambivalence." While he's happy to see people rise up after years of tyranny, he said he's concerned that the pro-democracy movements might get hijacked -- as was the case with Iran -- and that the new governments might be worse than those that came before.

Asked whether the United States has a responsibility to step in to help foster democratic institutions in those country, Toomey said that, in the case of Egypt, the U.S. should have done more to foster civil society.